UNION, Conn. (AP)  It's time to add gassy trees to the list of climate concerns.

According to a new study by Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, diseased trees may be releasing unusually large amounts of methane gas into the air. If the data holds up, it could alter forest management strategies around the world and change the calculations for how much trees are able to offset carbon emissions.

"If we're using forests as a climate mitigation tool, we have to know what we're getting," said Kristofer Covey, a Ph.D. candidate who worked on the study. "Carbon offsets could be changed somewhat by this."

To be sure, the new findings don't negate the beneficial aspects of trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. But it may give foresters some pause in thinking about what mix of age and species of trees is ideal for the environment.

"There's methane sneaking out the back door," Covey said, ushering visitors along a hiking trail at the 7,800-acre Yale-Myers Forest in northeastern Connecticut. "This is a very preliminary study, but there's a potential for this to be widespread. What we'd like to do is put together a global assessment, looking at a bunch of questions."

As with many scientific endeavors, the methane discovery happened by accident. Robert Warren, a former postdoctoral researcher at Yale, was showing some students at the forest how to take tree core samples. Suddenly, one of the trees began to spit out gas.

One of Warren's students decided to see if the gas was flammable by lighting it, and a moment later, "there was this flame coming out of the tree," said Mark Bradford, an assistant professor of terrestrial ecosystem ecology at Yale. "Robert called me up and asked what the heck was going on."

One of Warren's students decided to see if the gas [from trees] was flammable by lighting it [the tree], and a moment later, "there was this flame coming out of the tree," ... "Robert called me up and asked what the heck was going on."

Hey trees are flammable!!! What a discovery!!! Science marches on at Yale.

Need another reason to waste taxpayer money. Now each Forestry Service person must be equipped with a $20,000 portable methane sensor to decide which trees to terminate. But wait once they kill the tree it will increase the methane out.

As one posted, Yale....... /s

11
posted on 08/19/2012 5:44:52 AM PDT
by X-spurt
(It is truly time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)

They ridiculed Reagan when he said that trees were producing pollutants. I forget which of his RINO aides is alleged to have pandered to the juvenile humor of the press on a plane by pointing out the window and raising the alarm of “killer trees.”

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